Josh Barro argues that the Coase Theorem offers a solution to the recent disputes over people reclining their seats on an airline. Barro contends that when people purchase a seat on an airline, they also purchase the right to recline it. If the people behind them do not want them to recline, they should pay them not to.

Environmental economist Martin Weitzman argues that there is enormous uncertainty about the potential cost of rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But because there is a "non-trivial probability of catastrophic climate outcome materializing at some future time," we should take action now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In theory, a corrective tax and tradable pollution permits can have the same effect on pollution. In practice, tradable pollution permits have performed poorly, due to unpredictable fluctuations in their prices, inefficient bureaucracy, and corruption.

Yoram Bauman and Shi-Ling Hsu argue that replacing current taxes with a carbon tax is a "no-brainer." Most taxes distort markets and are a drag on the economy. A Carbon tax improves the efficiency of markets.

The Stop Online Piracy Act is an attempt to stop the theft of intellectual property. The details about how the Act would work are worth worrying about, but it is important that property rights be protected.

Mankiw recommends Policy and Choice: Public Finance through the Lens of Behavioral Economics by William J. Congdon, Jeffrey R. Kling, and Sendhil Mullainathan. A link allows you to download the book for free.

Mankiw considers the question of whether decisions that do not impose external costs on others may impose external costs on future versions of ourselves. He also asks us if we "trust the government enough to appoint it your guardian?"

Kenneth Rogoff argues that "when there is huge uncertainty about catastrophic risks, it is dangerous to rely too much on the price mechanism to get incentives right." But he also warns that we do not know "how to adapt regulation over time to complex systems with constantly evolving risks."

Ted Gayer points out that the Senate will auction off less than 25 percent of pollution permits in its cap-and-trade bill. As he puts it, "the Senate bill sacrifices economic gain for political support from interest groups."